Porius (Paperback)

Product Description

Although Porius is widely regarded as John Cowper Powys s finest achievement in fiction, it has never been published in its intended form until now. Abridged in every prior publication, the true Porius is presented here for the first time, carefully restored by Powys experts Morine Krisdttir and Judith Bond. The culmination of Powys s lifelong passion for Wales and its mythology, Porius is at once a historical novel and commentary on the nature of modern warfare.

It is the year 499. The scene is a Roman fort in North Wales, and the principal character is Porius, son of the reigning prince. The Saxons and their forest-people allies are advancing on Edeyrnion in a desperate attempt to save the remnants of their matriarchate. Arthur has sent ahead the magicians, Merlin, Neneue, and Medrawd, to help the beleaguered Porius.

Powys, a self-described born Inventor of Fairy Tales, transformed the people and animals of his Welsh village into the mythical figures that haunt Porius s primeval woods. The novel was severely cut from its intended form by previous publishers; this edition, newly edited by two preeminent Powys scholars, is Porius as Powys would have wanted the book that he considered the chief work of my lifetime.

Praise for Porius: "It is more like a mountain landscape or epic poem than a novel. There is comedy, Miltonic sublimity, chaos and confusion in equal measure." -Margaret Drabble, The Times Literary Supplement

"Readers with a passion for all things Tolkien will find this epic a pleasure, for it is full of Tolkienesque characters and interludes and plenty of good old fashioned sword-and-sorcery stuff, all very well told if told at admittedly great length." -Kirkus Reviews

"In many ways, Porius is a great, exhilarating work. It might depict a magical world, but it is one that addresses one of everyday life's essential challenges: reconciling the inevitability of death with an ecstatic embrace of the present." -The Wall Street Journal

John Cowper Powys (1872-1963) lived in the United States as well as his native England. The author of ten novels, including A Glastonbury Romance, Weymouth Sands, Maiden Castle, and Porius, as well as many works of criticism and philosophy, he was the son of a vicar and a descendant of the poets John Donne and William Cowper.